1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a handy-type tape winding device capable of automatically winding sheathing tape around a bundle of wires for a wiring harness or the like, and more particularly to a tape winding device exhibiting good workability especially when winding the tape around a branched portion.
2. Statement of the Prior Art
The official gazette of Japanese Patent Laid-Open (not examined) No. 117185/1989 discloses a handy-type tape winding device for winding sheathing tape around a bundle of wires for a wiring harness or the like.
A tape winding device of this type generally comprises a support portion for rotatably supporting a roll of adhesive-backed tape on a rotating plate adapted to rotate around the outer circumference of a bundle of wires for a wiring harness or the like, a feeding means comprising rollers for guiding the adhesive-backed tape fed out toward the bundle of wires, and a cutting means for cutting the tape on completion of the winding of the tape.
FIG. 14 is a front view of the tape winding device disclosed in the aforementioned official gazette. This tape winding device comprises a rotating plate 63 rotating around the circumference of a bundle of wires for a wiring harness or the like, and a device main body 61 having a driving means 62 for the rotating plate 63.
Notched portions 61a, 63a for receiving a bundle of wires are provided, respectively, in the rotating plate 63 and device main body 61 in such a manner as to extend from the outer edge to the rotating center thereof, and the rotating plate 63 is provided with a tape holder 64 for holding a roll of adhesive-backed tape, a feeding means 65 for feeding the adhesive-backed tape, and a cutting means (not shown) for the same tape.
Therefore, when the rotating plate 63 is rotated after a bundle of wires for a wiring harness or the like is inserted into the notched portions 61a, 63a with the leading portion of the tape being adhesively affixed to the bundle of wires, the tape is wound around the bundle of wires, and when the winding of the tape is completed, the tape is cut. The result is completion of a tape winding operation.
In a tape winding device of the above-mentioned type, however, in a case where there is a branched portion on a wiring harness, it is not possible for the branched portion to pass through the tape winding device due to the narrow notched portions 61a, 63a.
Due to this, every time a branched portion is encountered, the tape winding device has to be stopped to cut the tape and started again after the branched portion has passed therethrough, resulting in extremely bad operability.
With a view to solving this problem, it is possible to expand the notched portions 61a, 63a provided, respectively, in the rotating plate 63 and device main body 61 through up to about 180.degree. around the portion for receiving a bundle of wires. This makes it possible for a branched portion to easily pass through the tape winding device only by slightly tilting the device. In contrast, however, there is produced difficulty in driving and supporting the rotating plate.
As described above, in this tape winding device, when the rotating plate is rotated after the leading portion of an adhesive-backed tape is adhesively affixed to a bundle of wires, the adhesive-backed tape is automatically wound around the bundle of wires, and when the winding of the tape is completed, the rotating plate is stopped to cut the adhesive-backed tape, completing a tape winding operation.
However, when the tape winding device is started again to winding the tape, the operator has to manually affix the leading portion of the tape to the bundle of wires, and this type of work is very laborious and deteriorates the working efficiency.
FIGS. 15A to 15C show the tape winding operation inherent in a conventional tape winding device. As shown in the drawings, in the tape winding device in which an adhesive-backed tape 51 extending over a curved portion 50 is pressed against a bundle of wires 60 (FIGS. 15A, 15B), although there is no need to manually affix the tape to the bundle of wires, since the leading portion of the tape 51 is not supported, the angle at which the tape is pressed against the bundle of wires 60 is limited, and for example, as shown in FIG. 15C, it is not possible to affix the tape to the bundle of wires from thereabove.